Lancaster Comfort
by Texa52
Summary: A smiple Jaune x Ruby one-shot, as one comforts another in their time of need. For the 9 Days of Lancaster event.
**Hello internet, it's me Texa52 again, with another Lancaster one-shot, just don't expect me to turn this into an entire Fic, like what I did with Threats Of Castration.**

 **Well you might be wondering why the sudden Lancaster one-shot, well that's because after writing dark stuff, I need some good fluffy romance to balance out my life. I'm also writing this for the 9 Days of Lancaster event that is current happening. In case you don't know it's an event started by Anonymous Prick 3 and Fate-117, which lasts for 9 days; celebrating the wonderful ship that is Lancaster. Well I couldn't stay away from something as entertaining as that. I know that this may be a little late, but hey I've got a busy life.**

* * *

 _She was there once again, Amity coliseum, a marvel of engineering, the culmination of all four kingdoms ingenuity and skill_ , __the center stage of the Vytal festival, one of the most well-known events on the calendar._ _

_And there she was running, dashing left and right from shot gun shells that were trying to nail her down. Dodging left, right and center she jumped out of the first door she saw._

 _There she was again._

 _Pyrrha Nikos v.s Penny Polendina_

 _And she watched again as the strings wrapped around her robotic friend. The thin metal wires tied themselves under some invisible force as the innocent ginger felt something tear across her. Her swords fell one, by one, clattering down on the ground. Pieces of her clothing fell ripped from the wires._

 _Her eyes now reveled themselves as cameras as they slowly flickered out of existence._

 _I'm scared Ruby, will I dream?_

 _It was the haunting voice that echoed in her mind._

 _The scene changed beneath her feet and she could see a snowflake, but it was not a snowflake, it pulsed in white and was larder that the average snowflake. With that she felt herself running on such surface. Her legs felt like going beyond super human speeds, and she knew the reason why._

 _As she reached the top, with one final push she gave a burst of speed and jumped._

 _But she was too slow._

 _As she watched one of the nicest people that she ever knew glow brightly in flame, as a soft breeze blew by, making another one of her friend's scatter to the winds in a small pile of ash. Watching on as the crown that she had worn fell to the ground._

 _She wasn't fast enough._

 _She wasn't strong enough._

 _She couldn't save them._

 _She couldn't stop her._

" _Why couldn't you save us?"_

She awoke, but for whatever reason everything was so bright. It was as if someone had shown a flashlight directly at her face.

"Ruby"

"Ruby" Someone was calling her

"Ruby"

The voice that called out to her was familiar. It was warm, and almost calming to her. She felt warmer than ever, peace, the darkness couldn't touch her, the nightmares stopped talking to her. As her eyes opened she felt relaxed, but at the same tense.

She wasn't in the same confines of her Beacon dorm or back in her room on the island of Patch. She was out in the wilderness on a journey to Haven, to search for answers to what had happened in Vale. To find out why everything happened? And to make everything right again, by stopping those that were responsible.

She wasn't sure why there was a bright light in her eyes earlier, but she now felt very warm, as if she was being held on tight.

Opening her vision, she could see that she was still in the safe confines of her tent. For some reason there were a few more holes in the tent than last time she had checked. And for whatever reason as well, she could feel Jaune's arm wrapping around her tightly.

"Jaune what's happening?" She asked nervously.

He let go of her, but his face was wrought with worry. His warm hands rubbed up and down on her back as if she was a sick child. "Ruby were you having a nightmare?" He asked like a worried father, comfort at last.

It wasn't embarrassing to admit it everyone had nightmares, but she really didn't want to mention those that were no longer with them. It would only worsen everyone's spirits. They needed to forget the past. So it would be best is she didn't say anything or possibly lie. "No I didn't."

"Ruby your eyes were glowing light out of them…and you were moaning…stuff." He pointed out.

"What kind of stuff?" She asked.

"Pyrrha…" He simply said.

She looked at him in horror, and covered her mouth. Why did she have to hurt others like this, she didn't mean to. The mention of his former partner would undoubtedly be more painful to him than her. So why did she have to hurt others when she didn't want to. Stupid, stupid, stupid her.

She buried herself into his arms.

"Ruby?"

"I'm sorry." She whimpered, as she held onto her sleeping partner.

"Ruby…It's alright." He comforted. But there was pain in him, she knew it, looking through his bright blue eyes, she could still see the sorrow, the pain and the tears that he had once shed.

It was fortunate that they had packed two tents for their journey. Or else she would've slept alone, without the warmth and support that he was giving her in this moment of need. Who'd knew that she would be thanking a sleeping arrangement for tonight.

"Jaune I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, but I couldn't, I can't stop thinking about that night." She sobbed on. Holding back her tears, clinging onto him as water formed underneath her eyes.

The events that had happened few months earlier would be traumatic to many, and it was a miracle that all of them had made it out of there alive. But not all of them left the storm unscathed, if there was anyone who would have nightmares of the battle, they would have to be Ruby and him.

The more tragic story would be for his red-headed sleeping partner, with two of her friends gone, her entire team separated and sister 'disarmed' after it was over.

"Ruby….It's alright." He comforted once again. "Now, do you mind telling me what you saw?"

"I…*Sob* was there once again*sob* at the coliseum…And I saw Penny…And then I was at the tower…And I saw*sob* Pyrrha…" She recounted tearfully

But looking back at Jaune, he didn't look as sad as before, and le let go of her from his embrace. "Ruby…I know how you feel…But you need to get all of this out of your mind."

"But I can't…I can't stop knowing that I couldn't save them..."She blurred on.

He simply gave a sigh, knowing exactly what she was going through, he couldn't remember the exact term 'survivors guilt' was it? A form of Post-traumatic disorder. "Ruby, how long have you felt like this?"

"Not…For …Long….I tried to keep it inside of me" she admitted

This was not good, it was not good at all.

The gears within his brain began turning for a solution to this. He wasn't going to let a fellow team leader suffer due to her own problems; he had done something similar to this before, back in Beacon when Cardin threatened him with expulsion, and he dropped to new lows in his life. Now it was him doing something in return for a fellow team leader.

Unzipping the entrance to their tent, he picked himself up, and gestured for her to follow him.

"Where are we going?" Questioned Ruby, nervously, while wiping the few remaining tears that she still had on her cheeks.

Turning around to face her, with a determined look on his face. "Ruby Rose, I'm going to make you smile once again." Making her smile internally, but a wall of uncertainty still remained.

Using a match, he lit up one of the lamps that they had brought with them. Helping the reaper out of their now torn tent, he reminded himself that there should have it fixed soon and to ask Ruby why she could shoot lasers out of her eyes, but for now he was going to make her smile once again.

"So where exactly are we going." Asked Ruby, while she did have complete faith in Jaune, taking them through somewhere unknown would put that faith to the test. What did help her calm herself was their hands intertwined as he led both of them on through the unknown.

"You'll see." He replied cryptically.

* * *

With a little light in his hand, he led them on. The dark night sky was illuminated by their shattered moon and accompanying stars. The night sky was peaceful, not a creature of darkness in sight. Well even the worst of creatures had to go to sleep, or perhaps they were frightened away by the bright light that they possessed.

Stopping in his own tracks "Well here we are." He stated.

Peeking behind him, all she could see was a frozen lake, with a smooth surface that was whiter than an eighty year olds hair or in her case Weiss's hair. The frozen lake reflected all, the night sky and her curious face that was starring at the surface.

Placing down the lamp gently on the snowy ground, letting the source of light melt away the snow. He took her hand and stepped into the icy surface.

And before she knew it the two of them were dancing on the ice.

At first she was unsure about where this was going, losing her balance slightly on the slippery surface, the lack of ski shoes didn't help either, but the Arc somehow managed to move smoothly without them. She balanced herself out, despite having her arms flail around in the air several times, much to Jaune's amusement. Pouting at him, if he was going to laugh at her, he was going to regret it when she managed to get her bearings, because boy was he in for a surprise.

He danced in circles around her as she tried to get her feet steady on the frozen water, eventually she managed to achieve a semi-graceful slide of sorts, and thus she put her speed to good use, partly using it, she danced in circles around him, teasing him to chase after her, only for him to loose every time when he got closer.

She was hard to get to with that semblance, but that wasn't the point. He was losing this battle, but Jaune Arc had succeeded in his mission.

As she spun around him, he tried to keep up, but was struggling to keep his own feet in check and from tying themselves up, but to no avail. He found himself tripping both feet over each other, and with that his confidence and booty hit the cold floor. Much to Ruby's approval as it was now her turn to do laps around him, giggling like the silly little girl she was.

Picking his pride and cold butt off the floor, he grinned a small grin, he knew he deserved what happened to him, but he wasn't going to let Ruby just toy around with him like he was some training doll.

He skied himself over to the banks of the frozen lake, turning his hand into a c-shape, he scooped up balls of white snow in his palms.

Two snowballs nailed Ruby right in the back of the head, causing her growl slightly, if he was going to turn this into a snowball fight, then he just opened his can of worms.

Racing around the tips of the river bank, she collected her own arsenal of snowballs in her hands, tossing them left, right and center as her shots hit her target with rapid succession and accuracy. His entire body from head to toe was now snow, snow, and snow, but he didn't seem to mind as he began to replenish his own stock as well and fired back at, with the few occasional ones hitting her right in the head.

By the end of their little firefight, both had snow littered in their hair, with pieces of white mixed in with their clothes as well. They didn't leave their little ice skating rink unscathed, but the fun times they had gained all made up for all their losses.

Skidding to a stop near their original launching spot, Jaune sat there, he felt like he could ski on forever, but he knew when he was beaten.

Ruby knew this as well and decided to join him. Of course warmth from a small lamp couldn't compare to body heat, well Jaune had plenty and he did drag her out, so he wouldn't mind if she stole some from him right?

Snuggling in with him, she nuzzled herself deep into his chest and the two lay there "You feeling better now?" asked Jaune.

"A bit." She whispered "But I…"

"No…Buts Ruby, what happened, happened, I know Pyrrha's gone but I've already tried moving past that fact. You should do the same to, all of us tried our best that night" He admitted sorrowfully. "We couldn't win…But that didn't mean we didn't try."

"But…I was so close…IF I was faster, or something…I could've…" A soft slap on her head stopped her mid-sentence.

"Ruby don't talk like that, if you blame yourself, then your nightmare's won't stop." He scolded. "I miss Pyrrha as well, hell I miss everyone Yang, Weiss and even Blake, but looking back won't change anything, blaming yourself won't help."

She gave a soft whimper that reminded him of Zwei, now he kinda missed that Corgi.

"Look Rubes, I get that you think that you can do better that night, guess who feels the same?" He asked

"You…" She whimpered, knowing full well that he suffered a loss far greater than most.

"Yep…Me…silly little old me…Sometimes I think that I should've been there instead of her, or maybe I could've been stronger for her, for all of us…But I know that I can't change anything. So all that I can do now is continue on this journey, and find the answers as to why all this happened and maybe take down the bad guys." He admitted. "I've made peace with what has happen, you should stop beating yourself up"

She seemed to understand his message as he then felt both her arms wrap around him more tightly, stroking her head like she was his own puppy. It seemed so peaceful, despite knowing the world outside was on pure and utter chaos, with one kingdom in ruins and another facing intense scrutiny for their actions. Here by the frozen lake that the two had shared, none of that noise was heard. It was trees, ice skating and peace here, and that she was grateful for, it almost brought more tears to her eyes.

"Ruby…promise me that you'll try to forget what has happened." He requested.

"I promise…"She whimpered.

They remained silent for the time, as they began to enjoy the sounds of silence.

But there was more than silence in the air.

Turning her head around, she planted a small kiss on his cheek. "Thank you, Jaune…For everything." She could hear his heartbeat increase.

He could sense the speed of her breathing increase, but he was lost for words to even care, flabbergasted at what just happened. "You're welcome" Was all that he could say. Gratuities were appreciated.

And with that the two fell asleep under the stars.

But for the entire night, her dreams were filled with those of stars and knights.

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 **Seeds of love have been planted, so I guess you could say that this has been a successful one-shot.**

 **Well leave a Fav or a Review**


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